mba application essays

Going to MBA school can be one of the major decisions in your life. Aside from the school expenses, you also have to find time to juggle work, family life, and your journey to an MBA degree. You need to set a direction to follow through to make all these work for you. Even in the application process, you need to be well prepared for the challenges. There should be goals as well as plans on achieving them. Below are what experts would recommend in setting direction for your admission application.

You have to know what makes the program and school suitable for your plans

Do you already have an MBA school in mind? Why did you choose this school or this specific program? These are some of the questions you have to ask yourself first. What kind of career do you want to have? Can that MBA school give you the right training? You have to ask yourself these questions to know if you are going to tread on the right path.

You need to set realistic expectations

Why are you going to obtain an MBA degree? To have an easy way climbing the ladder of success? If yes is your answer to the this question, experts would say, get real! Although an MBA degree would offer better career opportunities, it does not guarantee a sweat-free success in your field. This is why setting realistic expectations is very important. It also pays to be realistic with the admission application process. Expect a very tough competition. You have to anticipate success, but you should also prepare for failure.

You need to find the right motivations

The life of an MBA student is not easy. You really have to balance your personal life and the demands of MBA school. Expect your life as an MBA student to be full of ups and downs. Because of this, it is necessary for you to find the right motivations. Your motivation will keep you going on despite the obstacles. Let this be your guide when writing about your MBA application essays and pushing through with the application process.

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Stating Preferred Specialization – ips on getting an MBA degree
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MBA Degree Programs – All about MBA degree programs and application
MBA Application Forms – All about MBA school application
http://www.bschooladmissionsformula.com/participate-in-clear-admit%E2%80%99s-free-mba-admissions-strategy-webinar-%E2%80%93-last-one-of-the-season/ – All about MBA school admission and application

Writing a good MBA application essay is like making a good sales pitch. Essentially, your application essay should be about selling yourself to the MBA school that you are applying to. This article will give you some great tips on how to convince the admissions committee to buy into your essay and accept you into their school.

Avoid unrealistic claims

The first mistake you can make in any kind of sales pitch is to make unrealistic claims that will come back to bite you. This principal is the same when it comes to admissions essays. Do your best to avoid making unrealistic claims about you, your experiences, your grades, or anything else in your application package. Admissions officers can and probably will find out if you tell a lie in your application package, so it’s best not to even try. Instead, be honest, sincere, and accurate about the information that you provide in your essay.

Show them what you can do instead of merely recounting all your achievements

In a sales pitch, you basically have to show potential clients everything that they can get out of your product within a short amount of time. The application essay is very similar in the sense that you have a limited number of words or pages to explain what makes you a good candidate as a student in the school. To do this, you will have to be a little creative. Instead of just enumerating all of the achievements you have made, try to tell a story that brings the reader along on the journey. Get the reader interested in who you are, what you have been through, how you have developed (personally), and why this all makes you a better person who is ready for the challenges of MBA school and life, in general.

Don’t get cheesy with your writing style

Finally, avoid sounding too cheesy or up-in-the-clouds in your application essay. Some people make the mistake of trying to sound like a poet, an intellectual, or a literary genius. Try not to use big words that are verbose, or else it may come off like you are just trying to show off your vocabulary and writing skills. Instead of focusing on being someone or something else, focus on being yourself. Let your personality and character shine through in your writing. Try to write as naturally as you can, but still pay attention to the objectives of your application essay, which is basically to get the school to accept your application.

Related links:

Staying Focused – Staying on track in your admission essay
Using Samples – Making effective use of essay samples
Specializations – How to state your preferred specialization in your essay
Avoiding Jargon – About avoiding jargon in your essay
School Profiles – Profiles on top MBA schools

Sample Essays – How admission essays can help
Rhetorical Questions – Using rhetorical questions for an introduction
Entrance Essay – How to write an entrance essay
Helping your Child – Helping your child with the admission essay
Better Admission Essay – Making your admission essay better

The first sign that indicates an MBA school’s interest in your application will probably be a call-up for an interview. Some people get very intimidated by the interviews because they are unsure about what will be asked, how to answer, how to dress up, and how to handle themselves in front of the interviewer. Here are some great tips to get you through your MBA admissions interview:

List down all possible questions you can gather from your application package

The first step is to do your research by finding out what questions the interviewer will be asking you. The best place to start is right on your application form and essay. The interviewer will most likely be asking you questions based on the information that you gave in your essay and application form. Be prepared by listing down some of the questions that they are likely to ask based on your application package. You may also want to do some research online to find out what types of questions are commonly asked by MBA school interviewers.

Do an honest assessment of yourself

Now that you have a good idea of what to expect, you can start focusing on how you are going to answer these questions. To do so, you will have to do a little self-assessment and reflection. Try to get a clear picture of who you are, what you have accomplished, and why this makes you a good candidate for the school you are applying to. Make sure that you are honest in your assessment and, more importantly, show honesty during the interview.

Be clear with your goals and intentions

Finally, another great tip for acing your interview is to be clear about your goals and intentions. Figure out why you want to go to MBA school, what you want to accomplish in life, and why you intend on enrolling in this particular school. This will help you in showing the interviewer that you are goal-oriented and that you have aspirations that you are working towards. Remember, though, not to come-off as too arrogant or boastful during the interview.

Related links:

Staying Focused – Staying on track in your admission essay
Specializations – How to state your preferred specialization in your essay
Using Samples – Making effective use of essay samples
Avoiding Jargon – About avoiding jargon in your essay
School Profiles – Profiles on top MBA schools

MBA interview strategies – Strategies for acing your interviews
Interview News – The latest in interview news for MBA
MBA interview – A blog about MBA interviews
Self-assessment and Tips – Using self-assessment for better understanding
Interview Recommendations – Some recommendations for your interview

The MBA Channel blog is part of a bigger site with the same name.  The blog part is just a tab in the bigger MBA Channel.  The blog, as with the whole website, is directed toward MBA students and businesspeople.  While the whole site is host to several interesting articles that tackle MBA schools, business news, business events, and other related topics, the blog is fairly new.  The blog is actually a share button, wherein people can put in their own business- or MBA-related articles and greetings.

What’s commendable

The MBA Channel is rife with MBA articles.  The tab/button feature is a clean way to make navigation through these articles and categories fast and easy.  Each tab has a drop-down menu that contains subcategories of the highlighted category tab. Browsing the MBA Channel does not only provide you with static information but also connects you with the rest of the business world.  News and events all over the business world provides you with a buffet of ideas that may be incorporated into your business or education.  MBA Channel even has a search engine that can pore through the site based on a particular category: articles, schools, or events.

The design is clean and professional-looking.  It also features very little ads, and whatever ads are present are related to what MBA channel is all about: business and business schools.  Not all articles, however, are given titles that are neither drearily formal nor uncreative.  The article An Embarrassing Story sounds like it could have come from a personal blog site, but it is not.  It is actually a business news article.  By the time you have clicked it, you are hooked.  You must be if you are into MBA schools and business yourself.

The downsides

Though MBA Channel is a great site to explore, the true blog part is still in need of more entries.  Given that most of the information is already featured in the rest of the site, readers may need more readable entries as those in the MBA Channel blog.

The GMAT Club blog is a collective effort of current and past business students, GMAT (Graduate Management Admission Test) experts, and other people who are just interested in business schools and GMAT itself.  The blog entries aim at helping GMAT examinees get higher scores and preparing GMAT passers for business school.  Those who have gone through both processes–GMAT exam and business school applications, that is–contribute to the wealth of knowledge of the GMAT Club blog.

What the blog is all about

The GMAT Club blog is not just a random set of GMAT-related articles.  The blog really intends to help those who want to score high at GMAT to get into business school.  A proof of this is its user-friendliness.  The articles are divided into categories.  Instead of going with the diary-style monthly divisions, the GMAT Club blog makes use of a different set of links.  It even has a “How to Use” inside link.  This link directs the visitor to a clean page, which basically makes him or her choose his or her interest in the site.  Here, the site’s resources branch out into three categories: GMAT takers, business school enrolees, and contributors.

The blog does show that what you learn at business school should be implemented.  In fact, its entrepreneurial side reveals itself through the GMAT sample tests that are available for a fee.  The GMAT Club also provides free tests, reviews, and other resources.

A few suggestions

Much have been said about the plentiful resources of the GMAT Club blog.  It even has a GMAT score estimator.  The comments that arise are generally positive.  A possible improvement, however, could be selling its own recommended and reviewed books so that payment for the premium GMAT tests and the books can be done at one go.

FIND MBA BLOG is directed toward prospective and current MBA students.  It features articles on various MBA programs across and outside the country.  There are even interviews of MBA students and of those who are already in the world of business.

The highs

The articles in the FIND MBA BLOG are organized by categories and the months that they were written. An article can belong to more than one category.  The article  A Sneak Peek at Stanford’s Annual Cool Product Expo can be found under California, Media & Design and Energy & Natural Resources.

While other MBA guide blogs will focus more on different MBA schools, Find MBA BLOG provides you with the opportunity to know what actual people think of the MBA program that they are or were in.  The interview articles are great additions to this MBA blog.  The interviews beat out school reviews in that the person interviewed is actually experiencing or have experienced what the program and the school are like.

Other interviews provide insights on what students have to expect after they graduate.  There is also an emphasis on the right values and attitudes that should accompany an MBA degree in order to succeed in business.  Readers will then know whether they are in the right field or not.

Aside from the impressive interviews, Find MBA BLOG offers a book review section.  Of course, the focus is still on MBA.  An interactive MBA school map for Asia is also included.  The map helps you find MBA schools per country in Asia.

The lows

While there are many helpful articles and interviews, the categories are less than helpful.  The categories are only helpful to those who are only looking for a few articles here and there.  But for those who want to use the blog extensively, it may not be as helpful.  This is because place categories can include a jumble of topics whose only connection is the place.  The categories are more like tags.  There should be a separate set of categories to set apart events, interviews, book reviews, and maps.  There should also be more maps and book reviews included.

Find College Cards is a blog that is created to provide a general guideline for college and graduate students.  There are even resources for those who have just finished high school.  High school graduates will know what to expect from college while being guided as to what schools they can go to, given their chosen fields.

What sets it apart

Usually, guides about college exclusively focus on college life.  There would be info on apartment houses, dorm rooms, cheaper books, and the like.  However, Find College Cards went further by also providing reviews of universities for the most popular fields.  Of course, the top universities of the country have also been featured. High school graduates won’t only know what college living is like but will also determine the right university for them.  Even those who are already in college may realize that there is a better school out there for them.  Find College Cards only confirms it for them.

An interesting article that found its way into Find College Cards’ archives is Obama’s Community College Plan.  Find College Cards is not restricting the college students’ and future college students’ point of view within the walls of an Ivy League school, or even within the walls of a community college for that matter, but is also expanding their thoughts toward the greater picture.  Students will know how education is being regarded by the government.

The blog is easy to navigate.  The articles are divided by categories and also by the months when they are written. The background design is simple.

What are the glitches

While the blog is very easy to navigate, the categories should be tweaked a little.  To be specific, there is a category named “College Life,” but many of the other categories are actually aspects of college life.  Some of the articles included in this category could actually also belong into the other separate categories.  What I suggest is that the “College Life” category be removed from the list, and the articles placed in the specific, separate categories.  For example, there are dating articles under “College Life.” They can be moved to the category named “Dating.”

F1 GMAT is basically what its name suggests, a help blog on the Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT).  It is directed toward students who are planning to take the GMAT.  The site contains articles, blog entries, inside resources, and links that will help prepare students for the big management entrance exam.

What makes F1 GMAT different from other GMAT sites or blogs?

The blog site features not only articles that prepare you for GMAT but also features articles on the MBA culture.  These articles can be found under the “Interesting Reads” section.  There are also links to tips, tutorials, and techniques.  The blog actually shares specific techniques such as fast multiplication.  The writers of the site  take the different aspects of GMAT preparation in consideration.  The MBA culture articles get future GMAT examinees a taste of their future in MBA schools and beyond.  If the culture presented is not that appetizing, there is a chance to back down.

The blog is really very resourceful.  It includes business trends that provide insights to upcoming and current students who dream of having their own enterprise one day. F1 GMAT is actually a whole dream in a package.  The dream is made more tangible by all the technical help provided.  It has a directory of outside resources, articles, tutorials, and the like. Having all of them in one page of the F1 GMAT blog saves time for a GMAT reviewer.  It is a whole library of GMAT resources.

Are there things to improve on?

While there are tons of helpful links within the F1 GMAT, getting to those links when you are an actual reviewer is more challenging.  You can always go through everything if you want to take advantage of every bit of information.  However, if you are in a rush and need just one thing, you may have a hard time looking for that topic or resource.  The entries are all over the page.  There may be a section on popular content and interesting reads, but you have no idea if they are all that the site has when it comes to articles.  Other sections point to videos and outside links, instead of articles. Better categorizing is recommended to the site with probably, a user’s manual for serious visitors.

The competition among MBA school applicants is quite intense, especially if you’re applying to a prestigious school.  One thing you can do to stay ahead of the competition is to come up with a winning essay.  If you have read sample MBA application essays, you’ll notice that they all have several things in common, and one of them is that they all have a clear thesis or topic supported by statements.  It’s very important to come up with an essay that’s coherent and presents a single idea.  Unfortunately, many applicants make the mistake of discussing too many things in their essay.

Why keeping your focus is important when writing your essay

Getting distracted when writing your MBA application essay is unavoidable.  Because you really want to impress your readers, you think of several ways to creatively write your essay.  You may have thought of including an experience that made you realize that an MBA degree can greatly help you achieve your goals.  You then start by telling that story or experience.  As you write your essay, you become so caught up in your story that you forgot to actually answer the essay question.  As a result, your essay is not that effective and the admissions panel will probably throw away your work and read the next entry.

To avoid veering away from the topic of your essay, it’s important to keep your focus.  One key here is to know when to include details about an experience you want to discuss in your essay.  Remember, the point of your essay is to convince the readers that you deserve an acceptance letter into the MBA school, and not to tell your life story.

Tips to stay on track in your essay

Now how do you stay on track as you write your essay?  One tip is to think of a catchy topic.  Then create an outline that’ll help give direction to your essay.  Throughout the personal statement, you should be able to come up with supporting statements that provide the right amount of details — enough to catch the attention of the admissions panel without veering away from your topic or thesis.

You can also let others read your essay and let them critique your work.  If a reader was somewhat confused as to what you are actually trying to say in your personal statement, then maybe you need to revise your work and remove some statements that are confusing or that don’t really contribute to the overall coherence of your essay.

How Effective MBA Application Essays Affect Your Marketability as an MBA Student

How well you respond to the essay questions that a business school requires for admission figures greatly on your acceptance chances.  The essays are designed to let admission officials get to know the candidate better and determine whether he or she is the right fit for their program.  Aside from that, essays also test the candidate’s ability to follow instructions and provide the best output set by the essay parameters and limitations.  Thus, writing an effective essay shows how well you grasp the purpose of the essay and presents how you provide the best output with those in mind.

Plan carefully what you want to write

First, plan what you want to put down on paper.  But even before you go to this stage, you should be clear on why you wanted an MBA in the first place.  You should know the reasons why you think having an MBA will help your career and yourself as a person, and how you can contribute to your organization and community.  Once you have these all thought of, it would be easier to answer the personal MBA application essays as you already have a foundation of beliefs and goals to rely on.  If you haven’t set your head straight on the reasons for wanting an MBA, you would not be able to express yourself more clearly and have an effective essay.

Answer the questions truthfully

As mentioned earlier, the MBA application essay is a way for admission officials to gauge your personality.  If you answer the essays using run-of-the-mill answers just to be safe, you won’t get far.  The best answers are those that come from the heart.  It may sound cheesy, but it’s true nonetheless.  In a more practical sense, you should answer the questions based on your experiences, abilities, and personal goal.

Keep it concise and stick to the word limit

Keeping your essays short and concise shows that you have consideration for your readers, good writing skills, and effective communication skills.  Doing so in your essay shows that you know what to say and how to say it.  Though some may think being long-winded look impressive, it really isn’t.  One has to remember that admission officials read hundreds of these essays every day and using long expressions won’t get them excited or interested in your essay.  So, do them a favor and keep it short.

If you really have a good message, a short simple expression that captures the whole idea is better than a long one that appears like showing off.  And do stick to the word count.  Admission officials have tons of these essays to go through, thus the word limits.  And another thing, keeping to the word count shows that you respect the instructions given in the essay.

An effective essay will benefit you a lot in your MBA application. Being effective in the essay is not that difficult to manage. It’s all a matter of knowing what to say, how to say it, saying it from the heart, and sticking to the limits.

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